Image Source: Agencies

July 18, 2025: China declared that it was prepared to advance trilateral cooperation between Russia, India, and China, also known as the "RIC format," as the United States and its NATO allies increase pressure on Russia to end its conflict with Ukraine and threaten India with secondary sanctions if it continues to purchase oil from Moscow. However, on the eve of a trade deal that it has been negotiating for some months with the Trump administration, government sources insisted on the condition of anonymity that "no meeting of the RIC format has been agreed to at this point in time and there are no discussions underway on its scheduling." These sources were mindful of the country's close ties to the United States. Lin Jiang, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, had stated, "China stands ready to maintain communication with Russia and India on advancing the trilateral cooperation" on Thursday morning. While responding to questions from the media in New Delhi regarding the revival of the Russia-India-China format, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, "The revival will be worked out among the countries in a mutually convenient manner." According to Jaiswal, the RIC was a consultative structure in which the three nations discussed issues of mutual interest on a global and regional scale. Jaiswal was questioned about China and Russia's enthusiasm for the format's revival. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko stated a few days ago that Russia was negotiating with Beijing and New Delhi to restore the Russia–India–China (RIC) format. He noted that Russia remained optimistic about promoting this mechanism's operation. Jaiswal responded, "The SCO meeting is some months away," when asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit China for the summit of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The participation by countries are finalized as per the mutual convenience. We'll let everyone know as soon as possible. S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, was in China earlier this week. During their meeting, he brought up issues that need to be resolved, such as the border dispute and Beijing's restrictive trade practices.